solrize

Blog post by crypto professor Matthew Green, discussing what Telegram does (I wasn't familiar with it) and criticizing its cryptography. He says Telegram by default is not end-to-end encrypted. It does have an end-to-end "secret chat" feature, but it's a nuisance to activate and only works for two-person chats (not groups) where both people are online when the chat starts.

It still isn't clear to me why Telegram's founder was arrested. Green expresses some concern over that but doesn't give any details that weren't in the headlines.

Basically more everything. 2x Cortex M33 cores with floating point, 520KB ram, more PIOs, bunch of secure boot stuff (I have mixed feelings about this), and can boot to a mode with risc-v cores instead of the M33s.

New study shows that the default apps collect data even when supposedly disabled, and this is hard to switch off

Any idea why? I've been using it for months. I probably had to grant permission when I first installed it, but haven't had to again since then, until just now.

Also, some of the time, when F-droid updates an app, the update just goes through. But other times I get a dialogue asking "do you want to update this app?". It seems random. Any idea?

Phone is a Moto G5 Stylus 2023 and it recently got a security update from Motorola, but I think I've done some F-droid updates since then. However, this may be related.

The other possibility is that something might have happened to F-droid's code signing credentials, e.g. someone messed with them? That thought is basically why I'm asking here.

G Stylus 2023 - went from $119 to $199, no longer attractive since 5G stylus is still $249

5G Power went from $179(?) to $299, lolwut? The 5G Stylus is a higher model and still $249

G Play 2023 is still $99 and a good deal but quite limited with 32GB flash and Mediatek CPU

G Play 2024 introduced at $149, a nice incremental upgrade to the 2023 model, has 64GB flash, but get this, they have dropped the SD slot.

The last bit is disturbing since no other 2024 models are yet announced. I wonder if they will drop the SD slot in all of them. Not good.

I got a 5G Stylus a couple months ago and still like it a lot. I had been thinking of getting one of the lower models for my brother since he doesn't care about 5G. The 2023 non-5G Stylus looked great at $119 but lame at $199. The 2023 and 2024 G Plays are both still of interest.

https://www.motorola.com/us/smartphones-moto-g-family

Phone is Moto G Stylus with Android 13. Whenever I launch the built in photos app, it now gives me a nag screen to download a version upgrade. When I click "upgrade", nothing happens. It's conceivable that I have network permission disabled for the app. I better check.

1. Is this a familiar thing? How do I make it stop, either by installing the upgrade or by shutting off the nag screen?

2. Is there a FOSS photo viewer that anyone recommends instead, that I can install from F-droid? I'm reasonably satisfied with the UI of the Google one. It allows sharing photos, moving them into subfolders, seeing the metadata, and some minor editing, all of which are useful. I don't care in the slightest about cloud sync or google drive so it's ok if the replacement app doesn't have those.

Thanks!

Thanks Moto, just 2.5 months behind. I think they will do a major version update sometime, then 1 more security patch and that's it? That's what they did with my previous phone. It wasn't ideal but tbh it didn't bother me that much.

All this is pure FYI.

I don't have a google account and don't want one and really prefer to not upload my contacts to someone else's server as a matter of principle. I have a personal nextcloud server so could use that if it helps, but it's not clear that it does.

I tried exporting the old contacts as a .vcf file and importing the .vcf to the new phone, and that MOSTLY worked, but it seems to have lost the labels on the phone numbers. E.g. my entry for XYZ Bank had separate phone numbers for payments, credit card, and so on. Those got transferred to the new phone as home, mobile, work. I.e. .vcf doesn't seem to handle custom labels.

Is there some kind of workaround? The vcf scheme seems like about the best, except for the issue of losing the contact labels.

To complicate matters a bit, I've been using the new phone for a couple weeks now, so I have added or edited some contacts on it. That means if I do another transfer, I'd prefer to not wipe out the contacts database on the new phone, though if that is unavoidable I guess I can survive.

Old phone is Android 7 and new phone is Android 13 if that matters. I haven't examined the .vcf file in an editor but I guess I should try that.

Thanks for any advice.

It's cheap and it's the only one of the G family that supports Boost Mobile (don't know why the other ones don't). It would be for a family member who may need to replace an Android 8 phone. For stupid reason I have a couple of prepaid Boost cards, so being able to use them is a plus, but the phone's low up front price is also a big attraction. I have the G Stylus 5g and like it a lot, so am imagining the Play as a less fancy version. Is that reasonable? Thanks.

Is it a rule imposed by the phone carriers, who want you to buy a different plan with no voice service if you have a tablet? It can't be the phone makers since the are so many. It can't be Android software licenses since Apple seems affected too. I'd be pretty interested in a tablet sized phone. But they seem to have maxed out in the current tall skinny format that is not really big enough for some things. Just wondering.

Edit: aha, I managed to get rid of the stupid photo. Thanks for the help.

I mean the functionality where it guesses what word you are trying to type, after seeing a few letters, or when you type by sliding your finger over the keyboard instead of pecking individual keys. I have all the custom dictionary and self-training stuff shut off on my old Android 7 phone (didn't want to upload data to Google) and it still worked pretty well. Is it my imagination or is Android 13 a lot worse?

Amusingly, Android 13 seems more willing to use NSFW words. I tried to type "furosemide" (a prescription drug that a family member uses) and the phone sas "fu" and suggested "fucking". Android 7 also had those words but wouldn't use them until it was out of alternatives. I'm not offended but I think that change is funny.

Ok it's 4G and Android 12, so a little bit behind the times, and weighs over a pound, but it has 65 watt fast charging and a built in 1200 lumen flashlight (I wonder if that doubles as a video light). I found out about it a few days ago and have been fascinated by it since then. The weight isn't so bad if you consider that it gets rid of the need to bring a power bank.

Not gonna buy real soon but wow. Maybe they will do a 5G version sometime. I posted in another community that I want to be able to pull it out and say "that's not a phone, THIS is a phone".

Any thoughts?